Scuderia Coloni

The FIA's announcement that turbos would be banned from Formula One from 1989 - making the sport more affordable — was the trigger for Enzo Coloni to enter the category. Enzo Coloni Racing Car Systems made its first appearance in Formula One at the 1987 Italian Grand Prix in September 1987. The yellow painted FC187, powered by a Novamotor-prepared Cosworth DFZ, was a simple machine designed by former Dallara apprentice Roberto Ori. Coloni himself had carried out the shake-down drive but Nicola Larini was the race driver. The car was obviously not ready and Larini did not qualify. The Italian recorded Coloni’s first Formula One race start at the 1987 Spanish Grand Prix, although mechanical problems meant that he did not finish. The team did not fly to the end of year overseas races that year, so Larini’s retirement from the Spanish Grand Prix that year ended their first season. They were, of course, 16th and last in the Constructors Championship, because they were the only team without a finish.

The primary emblem used by the team during its participation throughout Formula 1 championships.

The 1988 season was the team's first full season and started well. Although the "new" FC188 was almost identical to its predecessor, Coloni's new driver Gabriele Tarquini qualified regularly and finished 8th at the Canadian Grand Prix. This turned out to be Coloni's best result in Formula One. Due to a shortage of funds very little development work was carried out during the year. The team’s performance suffered as a result and qualification or even prequalification were no longer certain. The team scored no points this year, finishing again 15th, ahead of Osella, the new EuroBrun and the suffering Zakspeed Team.

The 1989 Monaco Grand Prix was the only race in which two Colonis qualified. Raphanel leads Piquet (Lotus) through the tunnel.

The 1989 Coloni FC188B being demonstrated in 2008.

Although money was tight for 1989, Coloni entered two cars for Roberto Moreno and French newcomer Pierre-Henri Raphanel. The FC188Bs were another update of the 1987 car, but were hard to handle and about 20 km/h slower than the rest of the grid. Nevertheless, both drivers were able to qualify for the Monaco Grand Prix. This was the only race participation of a Coloni in the first part of the season. In Canada, Coloni presented a new car (the Coloni C3) which was penned by former AGS engineer Christian Vanderpleyn. The C3 was a basically good design but the team suffered again from a complete lack of testing. This meant that the team often failed to find the right setup for the races. The team failed to qualify for most of the rest of the season — only in three cases, the debut of the Coloni C3, the 1989 Canadian Grand Prix, the 1989 British Grand Prix and at the Portuguese Grand Prix did Moreno qualify, in 26th, 23rd and 15th place respectively, after a developmental front wing was fitted for Estoril. Unfortunately for the team, he then collided with Eddie Cheever in the warm-up Archived 2007-09-26 at the Wayback Machine and had to use the spare car. He did not finish the race as the engine blew up after a handful of laps. As results failed to arrive, the team was cut back throughout the year. After Vanderpleyn had left the team in September, Enzo Coloni took over the engineer's job himself but unsurprisingly this brought no improvement; neither did the new driver Enrico Bertaggia who replaced Raphanel for the last races. The team finished equal 18th and last with Zakspeed, because the EuroBrun team never qualified that year. The Portuguese Grand Prix proved to be the last qualification for a Coloni car.

An unexpected contract with Subaru, the automobile branch of Fuji Heavy Industries, brought substantial financial backing and additionally an exclusive "works" engine for free. The Japanese took over 51% of the Coloni team, paid the team's debts and supported the new alliance with a brand new, unique engine. It was a flat-12 engine which was designed by Carlo Chiti. Chiti's Motori Moderni company at Novara had supplied V6 turbo engines for the Minardi team from 1985 to 1987, and in 1988 Chiti had designed a normally aspirated V12 engine that attracted Subaru. In late 1988, the Japanese commissioned Chiti to design a new Formula One engine with a "flat" layout — as used in their road cars — that was ready in the summer of 1989. The engine, now with a Subaru badge, was tested in a Minardi M188 chassis but due to a severe lack of power Minardi very soon lost interest. After a few months of searching, Subaru found the Coloni team. Eventually, the "Subaru Coloni" Team was founded with Enzo Coloni staying on board as the man responsible for operations.

By the beginning of 1990, the "Subaru" flat engine was not producing more than 500 bhp, so the Coloni Subaru was one of the least competitive machines regularly competing in Formula One in 1990 (eclipsed only by the even slower Life car). Subaru and Chiti agreed to build a new V12 engine for the summer of 1990 together with a completely new chassis, but in the meantime the flat engine was to be used by the "Coloni Subaru" Team in a carry-over chassis. Early in 1990, a handful of Enzo Coloni's mechanics worked on a single C3 and tried to put the Subaru engine in it. The work was not done until the day the FIA started shipping the Formula One material to Phoenix. In the pits at Phoenix, the car was assembled for the very first time and a short shakedown took place in the parking area of an American supermarket. On the prequalification day at Phoenix the Formula One world saw Coloni's "new" model C3B which wore a white, red and green livery, but without an airbox and with wide, long sidepods. It did not follow common design practices for the time, was overweight by 300 pounds (140 kg) and proved uncompetitive. Neither at Phoenix nor at any other race did Bertrand Gachot, Coloni's new driver, manage to prequalify the car. Although lacking aerodynamic downforce or the engine power necessary to be competitive, the C3 was described by Gachot (speaking in 2021) as "the most fun" car he drove during his F1 career.[1] As the season went on, improvements were few and results stayed nowhere. Meanwhile, no success could be seen at Coloni's plant in Perugia where obviously nobody worked seriously on a new car. In May, Enzo Coloni was sacked by Subaru, but no improvement came. In June, the Japanese company withdrew completely and sold the team back to Enzo Coloni, debt free, but with no sponsors and no engines. By the German Grand Prix Coloni had arranged a supply of Ford-Cosworth engines, prepared by Langford & Peck. An improved car also appeared in Germany. The "new" Coloni C3C was little more than a 1989 C3 with minor aerodynamic changes. The car was quicker but not enough to achieve any serious results. Gachot was usually able to prequalify his car but the qualification for the race was still out of reach. At the end of the season, Coloni had not qualified for a single Grand Prix.

For the 1991 season the team consisted of only six people, and would be the last time a Formula One team entered only one car during the entire season. The car was another version of the C3 from 1989 which had seen some detail work from students of the University of Perugia and which was now called a C4. Enzo Coloni had hoped for Andrea de Cesaris as his first driver, with his sponsorship from Marlboro. The Roman eventually took his experience and his money to Jordan Grand Prix. Coloni handed his single car to newcomer Pedro Chaves from Portugal who had just won the British Formula 3000 series in 1990. The car was out of date, fragile and hard to handle and Chaves was not familiar with most of the tracks. As a result, Chaves never escaped prequalification. Finally he quit the team after the Portuguese Grand Prix. For the following race, Coloni was unable to find a new driver, but for the last two races of the season, he employed Naoki Hattori, a Japanese driver with a very decent record in other formulae but with no experience in Formula One. The results did not improve.

By that time, Coloni had sold his team to Andrea Sassetti, who renamed it Andrea Moda Formula for 1992; the team would not be around at the end of the season after it was expelled and banned from Formula One.

(key)

Year	Chassis	Engines	Tyres	Drivers	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	Points	WCC
1987	FC187	Ford Cosworth DFZ 3.5 V8	G		BRA	SMR	BEL	MON	DET	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	AUT	ITA	POR	ESP	MEX	JPN	AUS	0	NC
				Nicola Larini											DNQ		Ret
1988	FC188 FC188B	Ford Cosworth DFZ 3.5 V8	G		BRA	SMR	MON	MEX	CAN	DET	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	POR	ESP	JPN	AUS	0	NC
				Gabriele Tarquini	Ret	Ret	Ret	14	8	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ	13	Ret	DNQ	11	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNQ
1989	FC188B C3	Ford Cosworth DFR 3.5 V8	P		BRA	SMR	MON	MEX	USA	CAN	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	POR	ESP	JPN	AUS	0	NC
				Roberto Moreno	DNQ	DNQ	Ret	DNQ	DNQ	Ret	DNQ	Ret	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ	Ret	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ
				Pierre-Henri Raphanel	DNPQ	DNPQ	Ret	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ
				Enrico Bertaggia											DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ
1990	C3B	Subaru 1235 3.5 F12	G		USA	BRA	SMR	MON	CAN	MEX	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	POR	ESP	JPN	AUS	0	NC
				Bertrand Gachot	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ
	C3C	Ford Cosworth DFR 3.5 V8											DNPQ	DNPQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	0	NC
1991	C4	Ford Cosworth DFR 3.5 V8	G		USA	BRA	SMR	MON	CAN	MEX	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	POR	ESP	JPN	AUS	0	NC
				Pedro Chaves	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ
				Naoki Hattori															DNPQ	DNPQ

At the end of 2005, Formula One driver Giancarlo Fisichella joined forces with Coloni.[2] Fisichella Motor Sport had a team, run by Coloni, racing in the 2005 Italian Formula 3000 season. They won that title with Luca Filippi, who moved across to GP2 with FMSI in 2006. He was joined by Turkey's Jason Tahincioglu, who brought sponsorship from Petrol Ofisi. Filippi left the team after three rounds and was replaced by former Coloni driver Giorgio Pantano, who won three races later that season.

Adam Carroll driving for FMSI in Monaco in 2008.

Former F1 driver Antônio Pizzonia joined Tahincioglu at the team for 2007, although he was dropped in favour of Adam Carroll after three rounds. Carroll went on to win two races during 2007, while Tahincioglu again struggled to score.

In 2008 the team ran in the colours of Fisichella's F1 team Force India. Roldán Rodríguez drove one car for the whole season, while driving duties in the second car were shared between Adrián Vallés, Carroll and Marko Asmer. Andy Soucek was initially signed to drive for the team, but was replaced by Rodríguez shortly before the start of the season.

Fisichella International Racing surprisingly returned to racing via the 2014 Auto GP season, having replaced the short-lived Eurotech Engineering entry midway through the season at Round 5 in Imola.[3] Fielding an all Italian line-up of Kevin Giovesi and Salvatore de Plano for 2014, the team managed three 2nd place finishes, all achieved by Giovesi, with de Plano's best result being 6th at the Red Bull Ring sprint race. For the 2015 season, neither Giovesi or de Plano were retained, instead, FMS brought in Italian Euroformula Open Championship driver Leonardo Pulcini for Hungary, along with Argentinian GP2 refugee Facu Regalia, who won the opening feature race, with Pulcini taking second in the sprint race, ahead of Regalia, who finished in 6th place. Only one car was run for Regalia in round 2 in Silverstone, before the 2015 season was folded due to low entry numbers, marking the end of the FMS name.

Along with the FMS entry in Auto GP, Scuderia Coloni itself also entered the series in 2015, under the Paolo Coloni Racing name.[4] Swiss Ex-Zele Racing driver Christof von Grünigen was signed to the team, and later joined by Italian Loris Spinelli.

Andreas Zuber and Luiz Razia joined the team for 2009. After the sixth round of the season, the Coloni team took back full control of the team after buying out Fisichella. It also had a new sponsorship deal with PartyPokerRacing.com. The deal also applies to their Formula BMW Europe team.[5]

At the following round of the championship, Coloni's cars were impounded as a result of an injunction obtained by Soucek as part of his dispute with the team in its FMSI guise. The team missed the qualifying session and were thus ruled out of competing in either of the weekend's races.[6]

At the Silverstone round of the 2012 GP2 championship, series organisers and Scuderia Coloni announced that the team would leave the series at the end of the 2012 season, and that the team would forfeit all of their points they had received to date and would receive for the remainder of the season. No further explanation was given for their abrupt departure.[7]

Year	Team name	Car	Drivers	Races	Wins	Poles	F.L.	Points	D.C.	T.C.
2005	Coloni Motorsport	Dallara GP2/05-Mecachrome	Mathias Lauda	23	0	0	0	3	21st	9th
			Gianmaria Bruni	17	1	0	0	35†	10th
			Toni Vilander	4	0	0	0	0	25th
			Ferdinando Monfardini	2	0	0	0	5†	17th
2006	Petrol Ofisi FMS International	Dallara GP2/05-Mecachrome	Luca Filippi	6	0	0	0	7	19th	5th
			Giorgio Pantano	15	3	0	0	44	5th
			Jason Tahinci	21	0	0	0	0	30th
2007	Petrol Ofisi FMS International	Dallara GP2/05-Mecachrome	Antônio Pizzonia	5	0	0	0	1	27th	9th
			Adam Carroll	16	2	0	1	36	7th
			Jason Tahinci	20	0	0	0	0	33rd
2008	FMS International	Dallara GP2/08-Mecachrome	Roldán Rodríguez	20	0	0	0	14	13th	10th
			Adrián Vallés	2	0	0	0	0	21st
			Adam Carroll	4	0	0	0	1	25th
			Marko Asmer	13	0	0	0	0	29th
2009	PPR.com Scuderia Coloni‡	Dallara GP2/08-Mecachrome	Andreas Zuber	18	0	0	0	21	13th	10th
			Luiz Razia	18	1	0	1	8	19th
2010	Scuderia Coloni	Dallara GP2/08-Mecachrome	Alberto Valerio	14	0	0	0	4	22nd	10th
			Álvaro Parente	4	0	0	1	13	15th
			James Jakes	2	0	0	0	0	31st
			Vladimir Arabadzhiev	16	0	0	0	0	29th
			Brendon Hartley	4	0	0	0	1	27th
2011	Scuderia Coloni	Dallara GP2/11-Mecachrome	Michael Herck	18	0	0	0	1	21st	7th
			Davide Rigon	2	0	0	0	0	29th
			Kevin Ceccon	8	0	0	0	0	30th
			Luca Filippi	8	3	0	5	54†	2nd
2012	Scuderia Coloni	Dallara GP2/11-Mecachrome	Stefano Coletti	20	0	0	1	28	13th†	EX
			Luca Filippi	4	1	1	0	29	15th
			Fabio Onidi	24	0	0	0	13	20th

† Includes points scored for other teams.
‡ Started the season as Fisichella Motor Sport

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Chassis Engine Tyres	Drivers	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	T.C.	Points
2005	GP2/05 Renault B		SMR FEA	SMR SPR	CAT FEA	CAT SPR	MON FEA	NÜR FEA	NÜR SPR	MAG FEA	MAG SPR	SIL FEA	SIL SPR	HOC FEA	HOC SPR	HUN FEA	HUN SPR	IST FEA	IST SPR	MNZ FEA	MNZ SPR	SPA FEA	SPA SPR	BHR FEA	BHR SPR		8th	36
		Mathias Lauda	12	Ret	Ret	13	6	10	Ret	16	15	20	15	14	21	Ret	14	16	18	13	12	9	24†	14	21
		Gianmaria Bruni	4	4	1	Ret	2	8	Ret	18	11	7	11	NC	14	10	8	Ret	9
		Toni Vilander																		15	8	14	13
		Ferdinando Monfardini																						Ret	11
2006	GP2/05 Renault B		VAL FEA	VAL SPR	SMR FEA	SMR SPR	NÜR FEA	NÜR SPR	CAT FEA	CAT SPR	MON FEA	SIL FEA	SIL SPR	MAG FEA	MAG SPR	HOC FEA	HOC SPR	HUN FEA	HUN SPR	IST FEA	IST SPR	MNZ FEA	MNZ SPR				5th	46
		Luca Filippi	Ret	Ret	11	5	Ret	Ret
		Giorgio Pantano							9	7	Ret	5	4	6	1	4	5	3	13	Ret	Ret	1	1
		Jason Tahinci	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	DNS	18	15	19	Ret	13	16	Ret	17	17	17	Ret	14	17	17	11	13
2007	GP2/05 Renault B		BHR FEA	BHR SPR	CAT FEA	CAT SPR	MON FEA	MAG FEA	MAG SPR	SIL FEA	SIL SPR	NÜR FEA	NÜR SPR	HUN FEA	HUN SPR	IST FEA	IST SPR	MNZ FEA	MNZ SPR	SPA FEA	SPA SPR	VAL FEA	VAL SPR				9th	37
		Antônio Pizzonia	16	Ret	Ret	8	8
		Adam Carroll						DSQ	14	6	1	Ret	14	1	2	3	3	Ret	15	Ret	6	Ret	15
		Jason Tahinci	Ret	13	DNS	Ret	Ret	15	18	19	16	17†	19	Ret	11	14	Ret	11	20	14	20	13	Ret
2008	GP2/08 Renault B		CAT FEA	CAT SPR	IST FEA	IST SPR	MON FEA	MON FEA	MAG FEA	MAG SPR	SIL FEA	SIL SPR	HOC FEA	HOC SPR	HUN FEA	HUN SPR	VAL FEA	VAL SPR	SPA FEA	SPA SPR	MNZ FEA	MNZ SPR					10th	15
		Roldán Rodríguez	Ret	Ret	12	13	6	4	Ret	16	11	Ret	18	15	19	Ret	Ret	10	21†	Ret	6	2
		Adrián Vallés	18	11
		Adam Carroll			8	Ret	Ret	Ret
		Marko Asmer							17	11	20	13	14	12	18	Ret	DNS	Ret	16	Ret	Ret	Ret
2009	GP2/08 Renault B		CAT FEA	CAT SPR	MON FEA	MON FEA	IST FEA	IST SPR	SIL FEA	SIL SPR	NÜR FEA	NÜR SPR	HUN FEA	HUN SPR	VAL FEA	VAL SPR	SPA FEA	SPA SPR	MNZ FEA	MNZ SPR	ALG FEA	ALG SPR					10th	29
		Andreas Zuber	Ret	Ret	3	5	9	19	8	2	3	Ret	Ret	17	16	Ret			12	Ret	8	12
		Luiz Razia	16	12	13	10	Ret	20	20†	Ret	Ret	14	Ret	Ret	Ret	13			8	1	10	17
2010	GP2/08 Renault B		CAT FEA	CAT SPR	MON FEA	MON SPR	IST FEA	IST SPR	VAL FEA	VAL SPR	SIL FEA	SIL SPR	HOC FEA	HOC SPR	HUN FEA	HUN SPR	SPA FEA	SPA SPR	MNZ FEA	MNZ SPR	YMC FEA	YMC SPR					10th	18
		Alberto Valerio	14	Ret	5	Ret	17†	19	9	Ret	14	22	11	12	Ret	12
		Alvaro Parente															2	3	12	9
		James Jakes																			15	18
		Vladimir Arabadzhiev	19	20	Ret	13	Ret	Ret	13†	9	21	17	15	15	18	14	19	Ret
		Brendon Hartley																	Ret	Ret	9	6
2011	GP2/11 Mecachrome P		IST FEA	IST SPR	CAT FEA	CAT SPR	MON FEA	MON SPR	VAL FEA	VAL SPR	SIL FEA	SIL SPR	NÜR FEA	NÜR SPR	HUN FEA	HUN SPR	SPA FEA	SPA SPR	MNZ FEA	MNZ SPR							7th	46
		Michael Herck	14	12	Ret	Ret	13	15	10	6	24	18	11	10	12	Ret	16	15	Ret	DNS
		Davide Rigon	10	Ret
		Kevin Ceccon			19	15	11	12	18	20†	19	Ret
		Luca Filippi											1	3	6	Ret	4	1	1	5
2012	GP2/11 Mecachrome P		SEP FEA	SEP SPR	BHR1 FEA	BHR1 SPR	BHR2 FEA	BHR2 SPR	CAT FEA	CAT SPR	MON FEA	MON SPR	VAL FEA	VAL SPR	SIL FEA	SIL SPR	HOC FEA	HOC SPR	HUN FEA	HUN SPR	SPA FEA	SPA SPR	MNZ FEA	MNZ SPR	MRN FEA	MRN SPR	EX	0
		Stefano Coletti	5	23†	Ret	23†	21	18	3	8	10	Ret	9	Ret	Ret	Ret	20	19	10	9	20†	8
		Luca Filippi																					1	22	Ret	DNS
		Fabio Onidi	20	13	8	14	20	9	6	18	Ret	Ret	13	17	22	8	19	22	11	24	16	12	21	Ret	Ret	20